Big Apple, Boardwalk, and Beach - Bullies and Wrap-up (The End!) (pg 44)

[Disneybuckeye]

I am off the boards for a few weeks and look at all I missed.

Glenn, I have no words. Congrats on the wedding! Lauren looked beautiful! The venue looked fantastic! I don't think I have enough adjectives to properly comment on everything. Most importantly I can't believe she is already old enough to be married! Did you check her driver's license? Isn't she still like 14 or something? Is she old enough to even have a driver's license?

Seriously though, what a joyous occasion and best wishes as they begin their life together. Also, thank you so much for sharing all the pictures. It was so neat to see all the events unfold. I really enjoyed looking at them. It looked like a fairy tale wedding for sure.

That was also very nice of you to share precious DVC points with them. I don't know if I could have done that. I am very stingy with my points.

 

[glennbo123]

Very, very beautiful, Glenn! A beautiful bride and a beautiful location and party. You all look so very happy! Congratulations to all of the Glennbo Family from our home to yours!!

Thanks Liesa! It was a pretty great day. Lots of emotion -- I could go from laughter to tears and back again at the mere mention of some old memory of when the kids were little. I know you can relate. But thanks, I appreciate the congrats.

That's encouraging! I took note of their so-so feelings about Vero Beach because my two would probably feel the same away about a straight-up beach resort like that. I'll look forward to updates once everyone decompresses from the big day.

I can report that they had a great time at Hilton Head. I think the cast members were a big part in that -- they got free dole whips twice (I think) and free drinks once. Lauren knows to make a point of chatting with the cast members and their "just married" buttons really paid big dividends!

You really do have a handsome family! Congratulations on this joyous occasion.

Thank you PinkyBean! And I think this is your first post here, so I appreciate the kind words.

Congratulations to all of you! Lauren was a beautiful bride, and the wedding looks beautiful, too! I love the Minnie bride hat for the rehearsal! I was going to ask where the honeymoon was, and then I see it was HH. Seems like a good choice if it's not WDW.

Thanks Tammie! It seems like the wedding was well-enjoyed by all who attended. We're still getting comments from grandparents (both sides) on how much they loved it.

They would've liked to have gone to WDW, especially since David has never been, but an expenditure for park tickets wasn't in the cards!

Thank you for posting these wonderful wedding pictures! Lauren was a stunningly beautiful bride and I love the picture of you walking her down the "aisle" (quotation marks because it was just a lawn ). Congratulations to the young couple, I hope they have a great start into married life!

Thank you Magdalene! I was able to hold it together long enough to get down the aisle. I just looked at the pastor, I couldn't have handled seeing any teary faces.

So far, so good on their start. They're both employed and have moved into an apartment! Woohoo!

Thanks for pictures of all the creepy crap at the Boardwalk. Now I won't be able to sleep for a few weeks.

When the baby comes home you can blame the lack of sleep on him rather than the creepy Boardwalk stuff.

In all seriousness though, it is a very nice resort and it looks like it worked out well for your family even if the living room area was a bit crowded.

I'm glad you got to go to MK and try out JC and BTMRR at night. Definitely a couple of things you need to try at least once.

The location of BWV can't be beat, and it's a pretty nice resort besides. The night rides at MK were great.

Congratulations to Lauren on her wedding! Looks like it was a beautiful day for it!

Thank you Andy. It was really hot for an outdoor wedding, but still a great day.

Congratulations! What a beautiful bride/wedding/day!

I've been following along on your trip reports for years and can't believe your daughter is old enough to be married. How does the time go so fast??

Thank you melk. I know, I'm right there with you. It is hard to believe.

I am off the boards for a few weeks and look at all I missed.

Seriously. At least it helps explain why I haven't posted much on this trip report in a while.

Glenn, I have no words. Congrats on the wedding! Lauren looked beautiful! The venue looked fantastic! I don't think I have enough adjectives to properly comment on everything. Most importantly I can't believe she is already old enough to be married! Did you check her driver's license? Isn't she still like 14 or something? Is she old enough to even have a driver's license?

Seriously though, what a joyous occasion and best wishes as they begin their life together. Also, thank you so much for sharing all the pictures. It was so neat to see all the events unfold. I really enjoyed looking at them. It looked like a fairy tale wedding for sure.

I know, I know, I know. Somehow or other she did in fact, get a drivers license, and even graduate from college, and is now a high school teacher. Crazy. It must seem to you guys like one of those kids on a soap opera who is born in one episode, a toddler at Christmastime, sent off to boarding school in the spring, then back on the series as the newest hunk/debutante in the fall.

That was also very nice of you to share precious DVC points with them. I don't know if I could have done that. I am very stingy with my points.

It wasn't hard until they actually went. After the wedding, Judy and I could've really used a vacation ourselves, so I was reeeally jealous that I wasn't there enjoying the beach.

 

[mom3sonstt]

Wait? The groom has never been to WDW? And you let him marry your daughter?? One of the things I always ask my son when he starts to date someone is what their Disney status is. That didn't start until after he dated someone who liked Disney princessy stuff but said she would never want to go to the parks. She didn't last long. But then again, so far none of them really have

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Ha!Ha! When each of our DDILs became engaged to our sons, we made it clear they had to name their favorite Disney character as a rite of passage to join the family.

 

[Steppesister]

Thanks Liesa! It was a pretty great day. Lots of emotion -- I could go from laughter to tears and back again at the mere mention of some old memory of when the kids were little. I know you can relate. But thanks, I appreciate the congrats.

I can relate, and do get it. We have wedding #2 coming up on November 5th, not too long after our trip. Being the mom of a groom is VERY different, and even more so being so far away from the city it's in. But even so, I imagine I'll be a bit emotional and cry a bit.

 

[glennbo123]

Wait? The groom has never been to WDW? And you let him marry your daughter?? One of the things I always ask my son when he starts to date someone is what their Disney status is. That didn't start until after he dated someone who liked Disney princessy stuff but said she would never want to go to the parks. She didn't last long. But then again, so far none of them really have

Good point Tanya! No, in fairness to him he's from Idaho (I know there are plenty of Pacific Northwesterners on here who've made the trip, so that's not the best excuse) and his family has never gotten there. But he's a big Disney movie fan, so I know he'll love it when he finally gets there. It'll be fun to show him everything.

Ha!Ha! When each of our DDILs became engaged to our sons, we made it clear they had to name their favorite Disney character as a rite of passage to join the family.

That would be hard even for me -- hard to pin down a favorite. I guess I'm partial to Goofy.

I can relate, and do get it. We have wedding #2 coming up on November 5th, not too long after our trip. Being the mom of a groom is VERY different, and even more so being so far away from the city it's in. But even so, I imagine I'll be a bit emotional and cry a bit.

Oh that's right. I forgot that it was so soon after you get back. Well just try to go with the flow, and enjoy the moment. (Wow, a sentence made entirely of cliche's, and I wasn't even trying!)

 

[glennbo123]

Animal Kingdom morning


Thursday, June 25th 2015, was our Animal Kingdom day. And here’s what I can tell you about it: we had Fastpasses for Kilimanjaro Safari beginning at 9:35, Expedition Everest at 11:05, and Dinoaur! at 12:45. In addition, we had an ADR for Sanaa at Kidani for 5:35. Okay, well, I can tell you that plus all of the narrative that will come in this and the next couple of chapters. Let’s get started – this year-old information isn’t getting any fresher!


Before we left the Boardwalk, Judy was worried that she was getting too much sun after her first day in the parks, so decided to go down to the Mercantile to look for a sun hat. James wanted a hat also, and that was fine with us since he’s not one to remember to re-apply sunscreen. Judy got a big sun hat, which made her a little self-conscious (and will probably somewhat conspicuous in upcoming pictures) but she was surprised at how many compliments she got from random strangers over the next several days. (It was a lot of work for me to run ahead and arrange all of those “random” compliments, but well worth it. ) And the hat made for a very fun character photo-op on a different day, but I’m getting ahead of myself. James got a blue baseball cap that had different versions of Mickey Mouse animation styles through the years. In the time since the trip, he’s worn it through two summers-worth of marching band practice and it has faded quite a bit. Now it looks like a 40 year-old faded blue baseball cap. Wait, let’s pick an example that isn’t younger than me – a 52 year-old faded blue baseball cap.


Anyway, my trip notes say that we were at the bus stop at 8:42 that morning. I can’t remember how long we waited for a bus, but we arrived at Animal Kingdom at 9:25, which seems like we made decent time. The crowd at the entrance to the park didn’t seem too bad, but the kids remembered the “secret” entrance through Rainforest Café and they urged us to go in that way.


The Animal Kingdom main entrance.

The Rainforest Café entrance. Definitely fewer people, but just look at that rogues gallery lined up at the turnstile. I’d hate to run into them in a dark alley. Oh wait, that’s my family. Nevermind.

I posted this little video on Instagram, of Marlene using her MagicBand and getting the famous entry-approving green Mickey-head.

Our arrival at the park was right at the start of our first Fastpass, Kilimanjaro Safari. Everything was proceeding as I had foreseen. Good...good!


But first we took a peek into the new Starbucks. Obviously that guy on the left was pretty surprised to see me.

A few shots of Africa as we made our way in.

Too bad we’re not playing the “Judy game” anymore. That last picture would’ve been a good one for that.

Mombasa Marketplace

I’ve already covered Kilimanjaro Safari in a couple of previous trip reports, and given you pretty much every animal picture I took, so this time around I think I’ll try to limit it to just the decent pictures or at least something halfway interesting. Like this animal (maybe an eland?), who apparently thinks he’s pretty darned good at hide-and-seek.

Even a different one further along was giving the previous one a run for his money.

I liked this picture of a few wildebeest. Or is it wildebeests?

I’ve got it! The latest Disney musical – “Gnusies”.

This was the best elephant picture I could get. Too much vibration in the other attempts.

This researcher guy is there every time. What in the world is he looking for? Can’t they set up some closed-circuit tv cameras?

Not the best pictures, but I don’t remember them having a cheetah when I’ve been here before.

I’m sure the lion liked having some shade this morning. My photo would’ve been better with more light, but we wouldn’t want the animatronic lion to overheat.

This picture turned out well, but I’m not sure what it is. After doing some internet research, maybe it’s a bontebok?

This one too. Maybe an addax? No, I am not making these names up.

We noticed the changes to the safari since the last time we’d been there. For instance, the “Little Red” storyline had been eliminated and some new sections were now open. We also saw the building where you’re served lunch if you take the paid tour. But in general, it was pretty much the same ride as in the past. I did feel like we saw more animals, so that was good. I’d still like it to be longer, so keep at it Imagineers!


continued in next post

 

[glennbo123]

continued from previous post


From there, we moved on to the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail.

One large frog.

Naked mole rats. Are they moles or are they rats?

Not your prettiest creatures.

I think I’m getting the hairy eyeball from these two lizards, and they don’t even have hair.

Duck. Oops, sorry, you can get back up. I was referring to the next picture.

This weaver bird was busy.

Hippo nostrils.

Hippo underwater. And more hairy eyeball, if you ask me.

Zebra

We saw this gorilla, but I was disappointed that the big Silverbacks weren’t out.

Sorry if this chapter was slightly boring. I feel like I’ve written it a couple of times now, since this portion of our Animal Kingdom morning wasn’t a whole lot different than previous trips. I’ll change that next chapter, when we get to see...



Up next: The best ride photo ever, wish I could say that it was one of us

 

[Steppesister]

And the hat made for a very fun character photo-op on a different day, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Oooh, looking forward to that!

Too bad we’re not playing the “Judy game” anymore. That last picture would’ve been a good one for that.

Yes, it would have been!

This researcher guy is there every time. What in the world is he looking for? Can’t they set up some closed-circuit tv cameras?

Silly you. That's the newest version of Disney's animatronics.

Of them all, those 2 were my faves.

 

[Flossbolna]

That is a lovely hat!! And I am truly sorry that she did not get it for previous trips already. You are right, it would have made spot a Judy so much more interesting!

You got some wonderful animal pictures. And the names for the ones you googled sound very much right from what I remember from the safari.

And I have to be grateful that your trip report has been going on even longer than mine from last summer!! Makes me feel less of a failure that I still have a trip report going more than one year after my trip...

 

[Reddog1134]

WHAT? One of your children is married? Is that even legal? What do you mean they've aged since I read your first trip report?

 

[glennbo123]

Oooh, looking forward to that!

Great!

Yes, it would have been!

I know it's a big bullseye, but it's fun to look for it in a crowd.

Silly you. That's the newest version of Disney's animatronics.

Very lifelike!! Which ironically, is what they say about me.

Of them all, those 2 were my faves.

Thanks.

Aw, I thought you of all people would have a comment about my "gnusies" joke.

That is a lovely hat!! And I am truly sorry that she did not get it for previous trips already. You are right, it would have made spot a Judy so much more interesting!

Kind of like Waldo's red and white hat! She liked it a little more by the end of the trip, after so many compliments.

You got some wonderful animal pictures. And the names for the ones you googled sound very much right from what I remember from the safari.

Thanks. It's not easy to google those critters -- Africa has a lot of horned animals. It's like looking through a book of mug shots.

And I have to be grateful that your trip report has been going on even longer than mine from last summer!! Makes me feel less of a failure that I still have a trip report going more than one year after my trip...

I know, it's getting almost downright embarrassing at this point, but I'm determined to finish it! It may take a while though. Thanks for sticking with me!

WHAT? One of your children is married? Is that even legal? What do you mean they've aged since I read your first trip report?

Yep. I think it depends on the state! The good news is that neither you nor I have aged since my first trip report. Just the kids.

 

[vamassey1]

I love Judy hat! Dennis got one a few years ago and brings it back every trip. Of course his isn't as big or colorful as Judy's.

I have yet to try the secret entrance, I keep forgetting and when I do remember no one wants to try it. I know what you mean about the safari. Seems to be the same thing each trip. It's much more fun when you're taking someone else for the first time. But, we can't miss doing it. The crowds don't look too bad.

 

[Steppesister]

Ok, true story:

I just opened this thread again to see your comments and it opened on the photo of those gross mole rat thingys; that's all I could see. And I thought: CHICKEN BREASTS? Why would Glenn post a nasty picture of raw chicken breasts? I need to go to bed- been a long 12 hour day.

Very lifelike!! Which ironically, is what they say about me.

Oh no doubt!

Aw, I thought you of all people would have a comment about my "gnusies" joke.

If it had been any other day, I totally would have. I did have the energy to chuckle though.

 

[natebenma]

Nice start at Animal Kingdom. My first time there (2004) we used the Rainforest entrance, but I don't think we have gone in that way since then. I enjoyed your pictures on the safari, but especially the ones on the Pangani trail.

I don't think I have ever seen a better picture of hippo nostrils!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Good point Tanya! No, in fairness to him he's from Idaho (I know there are plenty of Pacific Northwesterners on here who've made the trip, so that's not the best excuse) and his family has never gotten there. But he's a big Disney movie fan, so I know he'll love it when he finally gets there. It'll be fun to show him everything.



That would be hard even for me -- hard to pin down a favorite. I guess I'm partial to Goofy.

Okay, I guess that will have to do - you can be in the family. It will be lots of fun showing your SIL all about Disney!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Great start to your AK day! You got some great pics. I love the Weaver bird in action. Love the hat. I always wish I had the guts to wear one - I guess I'm afraid someone will point and laugh? I have a Pink Minnie had like James' blue cap you described. I love wearing it at the pool, but not in the parks because hat hair. Which is probably preferable to pink head. Judy is smart.

 

[glennbo123]

I love Judy hat! Dennis got one a few years ago and brings it back every trip. Of course his isn't as big or colorful as Judy's.

Aw thanks Vanessa! I'm sure Dennis' personality is big and colorful though.

I have yet to try the secret entrance, I keep forgetting and when I do remember no one wants to try it. I know what you mean about the safari. Seems to be the same thing each trip. It's much more fun when you're taking someone else for the first time. But, we can't miss doing it. The crowds don't look too bad.

I think my kids would take that secret entrance even if the main turnstiles were empty. It's cool knowing about something that most people aren't aware of. Oh yeah, the safari is a must do...but when I get to writing the chapter and I look at the pictures they look almost exactly like the pictures I have from the previous trips! Kinda makes it hard to write a chapter on it.

Ok, true story:

I just opened this thread again to see your comments and it opened on the photo of those gross mole rat thingys; that's all I could see. And I thought: CHICKEN BREASTS? Why would Glenn post a nasty picture of raw chicken breasts? I need to go to bed- been a long 12 hour day.

True story right back at'cha...when writing the chapter I almost wrote something like "looks like about 20 pounds of chicken breasts that need to be wrapped and put in the freezer"! I didn't, because I wasn't sure that other people would see it that way. I shouldn't have second-guessed that one!

If it had been any other day, I totally would have. I did have the energy to chuckle though.

No problem. For some reason, it seemed like it would be something you'd like.

Nice start at Animal Kingdom. My first time there (2004) we used the Rainforest entrance, but I don't think we have gone in that way since then. I enjoyed your pictures on the safari, but especially the ones on the Pangani trail.

Well, like I said to Vanessa, I don't know that the crowds at the main turnstiles really warranted going the other way, but my kids wanted to, so why not. The trails are great for picture-taking, since you can go at your own pace.

I don't think I have ever seen a better picture of hippo nostrils!

Why, thank you! I have that going for me.

Okay, I guess that will have to do - you can be in the family. It will be lots of fun showing your SIL all about Disney!

That will be fun!

Great start to your AK day! You got some great pics. I love the Weaver bird in action. Love the hat. I always wish I had the guts to wear one - I guess I'm afraid someone will point and laugh? I have a Pink Minnie had like James' blue cap you described. I love wearing it at the pool, but not in the parks because hat hair. Which is probably preferable to pink head. Judy is smart.

Thanks Tammie. The weaver bird was fun to watch. I tried to get some more of him (or her?) in action, but most were blurry. Yeah, Judy was pretty self-conscious about the big hat, but it did the job and people seemed to really like it! Hat hair is not a good look...but it doesn't cause skin cancer.

 

[Clarf]

Love the safari pics. I actually think the "Leopard" is a cheetah. You were smart to look up what all the different animals were. I just called them "things with horns" in my TR.

My daughters love love love the naked mole rats. They look forward to seeing them every time. I don't know what it is about them, but I think they love them more than the gorillas or hippos. Great underwater hippo picture by the way. I don't think I've ever seen them like that!

Tell Judy her hat is awesome. I need something like that!

Looking forward to the greatest ride photo ever!

 

[glennbo123]

Love the safari pics. I actually think the "Leopard" is a cheetah.

You're absolutely right! I'm going to go back and edit that! Duh.

You were smart to look up what all the different animals were. I just called them "things with horns" in my TR.

Well, I was smart to look up the ones I knew I didn't know. Turns out I should've looked up one I thought I knew. I don't think that's the first time I've done that. (I've also done it with Disney characters, which is heresy!!)

My daughters love love love the naked mole rats. They look forward to seeing them every time. I don't know what it is about them, but I think they love them more than the gorillas or hippos. Great underwater hippo picture by the way. I don't think I've ever seen them like that!

They are fun to watch! They're just so weird. I think you'll either be grossed-out by them or fascinated by them, there's no in-between!

Tell Judy her hat is awesome. I need something like that!

I tell her it's getting great reviews on the DIS.

Looking forward to the greatest ride photo ever!

It will not disappoint.